Hair gel
by catgirl234
Summary: Harry steals Malfoys hair gel. To annoy him. Not to see what his hair would look like without it. It's to annoy him. Eighth year, fluffy. RATING HAS BEEN INCREASED just in case.
1. Chapter 1

AN: another prompt from Drarry Lovers United on Facebook.

19\. Harry steals Malfoys hair gel. To annoy him. Not to see what his hair would look like without it. It's to annoy him.

Harry sat at one of the tables in the 'eighth year' common room, attempting to finish his Defense homework. Normally, he could finish it in about an hour but this time he had made a mistake, and it was costing him his concentration. He had meant it as a prank, and while it had worked, he hadn't counted on his own reaction. He glanced up again to find where a very irritated Draco Malfoy was sitting across the room. His normally slicked-back, platinum hair hung past his ears in feather light waves, glinting in the fire's flickering light. He needed to focus, he really did. Sighing, Harry set up a modified shield charm that blocked his view of the common room surrounding him and got back to his essay.

Once he finished, he took down the shield charm and went to sit by Ron and Hermione by the fire.

"Did you finish your essay, Harry?"

"Of course I finished it, Hermione. It just took me a bit longer than usual, I was a little distracted."

"What did you have to be distracted about, mate?" Ron asked. "You were over in your corner with your shield up the whole time."

Unforntunately, Harry choose this moment to glance back up at Draco where he was caught staring. He blushed and quickly looked away.

"What did you say? Sorry, Ron."

"No worries, mate. I think I figured it out anyway." Ron did look slightly pale, the same as he always did when he tried see what Harry saw in other blokes.

"You know," Hermione began. "You could just give it back. He doesn't have to know you were the one who took it, and he would be back to looking like his normal self."

"That wouldn't help much, Hermione. I've already seen him like this, so even if he did start wearing it again I still wouldn't be able to get this out of my mind."

"He's got a point love. Even now, I'll still get caught up in thinking about when you dressed up for the ball this year."

"Fine, don't give it back then. But if he's still pissy tomorrow in Arithmancy, I'm blaming you and I don't care if it's actually because Pansy said something dumb again." Hermione stared at Harry for several seconds before checking her watch. "It's late, and I have to be up for my rounds early. I'm heading off to bed now. Good night." She hugged Harry, and kissed Ron before heading up the stairs to the room she shared with the Patils, and begrudgingly, Lavender.

"You probably should give it back to him Harry. At least that way, you can pretend like it never happened." Ron stood up and stretched, prompting Harry to do the same.

"I know. I should do it while all the Slytherins are still in the common room." There were too many of the boys who came back to redo their last year at Hogwarts for them to all share the same dormitory. None of the others were keen on sharing a room with Draco, Blaise and Theo in the first place, and so Harry had volunteered to be the odd man out.

"I still don't know how you do it. Trust them with your back turned all the time."

"I dunno." Harry just shrugged. He didn't really want to tell Ron that the reason he had volunteered in the first place was that he would get to share a room with three fit blokes who, once the door was closed, had no reason to wear anything other than their pants. He stopped walking once he reached his room. "I guess I'll see you in the morning then."

"Right. Night then." Ron waved and then continued up the stairs to his own room.

Harry turned into his room and went to his dresser where he had hidden the bottle of hair gel that he had hidden from Draco last night. Before he could find it to place back in its rightful location in the bathroom, the door opened behind him and Draco walked in.

"I couldn't help but notice, Potter, that you were a little distracted tonight." Draco smirked, his earlier irritation seemingly forgotten. He lightly tossed his head to the side to flick his bangs out of the way. The glimmer of the lamplight caught Harry's attention. "Is it something that I could help you with?"

Draco slowly stalked forward until he was standing just inches in front of Harry. He didn't know where he wanted to look first; the sterling grey eyes just above his own, or soft curtain of hair framing them. Of its own accord, Harry watched as his hand moved to caress the soft, white fringe in front of him.

"Ah," Draco whispered. "Now I understand why you ran off with my gel."

"I like it like this," Harry responded just as quietly. "I didn't know I would."

"In that case, you keep it. Clearly you need it more than I do." Draco's smirk softened a little before he leaned forward and lightly kissed Harry. "Good night, Potter."

Draco was on the other side of the room before Harry could say anything, which, he thought, was probably a good thing as Blaise and Theo chose that moment to arrive. Harry quickly changed into his pajamas and got into bed.

"Good night, Draco."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Sorry it took so long to get this up. Draco was being unusually uncooperative. Enjoy darlings!

* * *

Draco had made a mistake, although he didn't realize it until midmorning. At first, he was too distracted to notice what everyone else was doing. Then, once his head had cleared somewhat, he thought that people knew better. Apparently not.

When he had given his hair gel to Harry, he never expected him to actually use it. This had been reinforced by the fact that every time he had seen him since then, his hair looked just as uncooperative as ever. So when Harry had walked into the Great Hall Monday morning with his hair firmly tamed in a way that suggested he had either just gotten off the broom, or off with someone else, Draco couldn't help but stare. The brilliant flash of green that he would seek out during meals and classes was now so common that Draco couldn't look away for fear of missing it.

The boy he had always admired, and later adored, was now transfixing. He felt Pansy lead him from the table and out of the Great Hall without paying much attention to where they were going. Draco wondered where Harry had learned to work with gel that successfully, that quickly. _Probably Hermione,_ he mused. He doubted that he had spent time over the weekend teaching himself, after all, they did share a dorm.

Once he started climbing the stairs towards the Transfiguration classroom, he became aware of the people, and their whispered conversations around him.

"Did you see Potter this morning? And you thought he was handsome before."

"I hope I can get a seat behind Harry in class today."

"Do you think Potter's got an interview today?"

"He wouldn't do that for an interview! He hates them.

Even Pansy started talking about it.

"Well, you know who stole your hair gel now Draco. I have to admit; it suits him too."

"For your information Pansy, he didn't steal it. I gave it to him." He paused to admire the shock that crossed her face. That didn't happen near often enough. "I never thought he'd actually use it though."

"Why in the name of Merlin would you do that? You do realize that you have just given every female in the school a heart attack?"

"And several of the boys I should imagine." Draco smirked. Just part of the plan, that's all this was. What plan that was, Draco had no idea.

It was only after Transfiguration that Draco realized that his plan had backfired, never mind that there actually was no plan to begin with.

 _This can't be good._ Draco groaned internally as he spotted a shock of long red hair next to Harry, _not after the spectacular falling out they had at the beginning of the year._ He increased his pace until he was close enough behind that he could hear their conversation.

"Obviously you still care Harry. You wouldn't be trying to get my attention if you didn't."

"We haven't spoken in months Ginny, and I wouldn't count our last conversation as speaking." Draco snickered inwardly as he remembered the shouting match during the Welcome Feast. Hermione had had to separate them with a shield charm before either one could start throwing hexes at each other. "Besides, I already have their attention. Now I'm just trying to figure out what to do with it."

"You don't have to do anything, Harry." She turned to stand in front of Harry and stopped walking. "It's my turn now."

Draco supposed he should have anticipated what happened next. Then again, it seemed like no one had seen it coming, and, he supposed, no one with any extent of common sense would have. Not after Ginevra had told the whole world that she hated who Harry had become. Now however, it appeared hair gel had become an apology and she took it as permission to kiss him.

Almost immediately though, she flew backwards and Draco found himself trying not to laugh. She obviously hadn't learned anything about Harry, and his reflexes had only gotten faster.

"Go back to ignoring me Ginny. It worked better." Harry wasn't speaking loudly, but everyone could hear him. He had gone cold and lethal, and an involuntary shiver ran down Draco's spine. "What I do, with my hair or otherwise, doesn't concern you. Unless I come to you, butt out." Harry spun on his heel and stormed off in the opposite direction. Thinking for a moment, Draco tore a piece of parchment, scrawled a message and hurried after Harry.

* * *

He shouldn't have let Hermione talk him into using the hair gel, never mind that he had wanted to at least see what it was like. Once again it brought unwanted attention upon himself. Harry growled as he felt someone knock into him.

"Sorry, Potter." Looking up, Harry locked onto Draco's gaze in time to catch the wink he sent at him. "Crowded hallways you know."

Harry froze. This hall was empty, that was why he had chosen it. That meant Draco had bumped into him on purpose. He stuck his hands in his pockets where he found a folded slip of parchment. He pulled it out and opened it.

 _You have had my undivided attention since the day we met._

 _This time, it's your turn._

Harry smiled. He could do that.

AN: Appologies for the slight Ginny bashing. I couldn't get an OC to work with the story line.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: And its back! There will be at least one more chapter after this. Possibly more. Funny how procrastinating on studying for finals gets the creative juices going again. ENJOY my lovelies. Let me know what you think.

* * *

"But what do I do, Hermione?" Harry was sprawled out on top of her bed, staring at the canopy above without actually seeing it. Hermione had been relegated to a chair somewhere off to his right.

Everything had seemed so simple this afternoon. They had been flirting back and forth for ages, years going by the note currently burning a hole in his pocket. He had enjoyed coming up with all of the different ways he could get Draco to kiss him again, but the moment he had seen him in the common room, he had panicked and dragged Hermione upstairs to talk. That had been an hour ago, and he was still no closer to finding the courage to go back.

"Honestly, Harry. What's so hard about it? Really, you must know what to do by now. You've dated Ginny and kissed plenty of others."

"But those were _girls_. And besides," Harry huffed. "Ginny wasn't really one for letting me lead. It was always do this, and do that, and we're going out this weekend so you better be there."

"And you think dating Draco is going to be any different?" Harry could hear the smile, even if he was refusing to look anywhere but the ceiling.

"He _is_ waiting for me to make the next move," Harry explained. "And I panicked."

Harry bolted up and stared at Hermione, wide eyed. Terror was etched across his face.

"What if I completely blew it and he'll never be interested in me again?"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"He's watched you over the last 8 years, just as much as anyone else. I'm sure that he knows to give you the time you need to figure it out."

Harry slowly leaned back on the bed as he relaxed.

"As good as you are when it comes to fighting Voldemort and his entourage, you are utterly hopeless with your interpersonal skills."

Harry turned to glare at her.

"I do just fine with you and Ron."

"We don't count. You've known us the longest." Hermione met his gaze. "Tell me, when was the last time you introduced yourself to someone without stuttering or tripping over something?"

Harry held her gaze with a hard stare for several minutes, refusing to give her the satisfaction. Eventually however, he had to give in. He flopped back on the bed and groaned.

"You win." Harry moped in silence for a moment, before returning to his original question. "So what do I do?"

"That depends on how many people you want knowing," Hermione shrugged. "Neither of you really want the whole school knowing, so approaching him outside of the common room is probably out, except for classes."

"And I'd rather not have McGonagle know until after we graduate, thanks. We'd probably be paraded around to promote interhouse unity or something," Harry said with a wry chuckle.

"So that leaves either you attempting to get him on his own, or braving whoever is in the common room." Hermione paused while Harry thought for a moment. "At least, if you say something in the common room, everyone else here will know and you have one place you could be completely open about it."

"I hate it when your right."

"No you don't, I'm always right."

Harry counted to five silently before leaping to his feet. He dusted his robes off and straightened his tie.

"Well, let's get this over with."

And Harry strode out the door. Started by his abrupt departure, Hermione hesitated before she ran out the door behind him.


End file.
